The Anti-Antiseptic Breeze

[Harmonie]

Good thing I don't really use public restrooms!

I remember my former workplace was forcing usage of the hand driers by removing the paper towels. However, they never did that in the family bathroom, which I used anyway, so I wasn't effected.

[Tank]

...

But imagine what kind of microvermin might be on the chair where your ass is planted.

I have no problem with this. My farts kill all known germs!

[Essie Mae]

Bit of a tangent here, but there was a brilliant programme on Radio 4 called, The Second Genome, all about fecal transplants but it also talked about the effects of our bowel contents on the body as a whole. First of a three-part series at 11 am on Tuesdays.

[Dave]

Bit of a tangent here, but there was a brilliant programme on Radio 4 called, The Second Genome, all about fecal transplants but it also talked about the effects of our bowel contents on the body as a whole. First of a three-part series at 11 am on Tuesdays.

Here's the link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09yddx5#play

Listening to it now, as I sip my mint tea which, over the past 3 years, seems to have stopped my bowels, and their flora, from getting irritable.

[Harmonie]

Listening to it now, as I sip my mint tea which, over the past 3 years, seems to have stopped my bowels, and their flora, from getting irritable.

How much do you drink and what type?

I've been drinking mint tea for a month or so, and so far haven't seen much improvement. =/ I've been drinking a peppermint/spearmint combo tea.

[Dave]

Listening to it now, as I sip my mint tea which, over the past 3 years, seems to have stopped my bowels, and their flora, from getting irritable.

How much do you drink and what type?

I've been drinking mint tea for a month or so, and so far haven't seen much improvement. =/ I've been drinking a peppermint/spearmint combo tea.

I drink Twining's pure mint, almost exclusively, I only drink ordinary tea or coffee when out. Oh, excluding my evening hot choc! I probably drink 6 to 8 mugs a day. I cannot remember how long it took before I was confident of its effect, it could be classed as a "herbal remedy" and such typically take months to work. I have also been free of almost every other gut problem, indigestion etc. Just wish it could cure the anti-social effects of onions and chickpeas on me - I love falafels!

And after listening to that broadcast I might just diversify my intake back to some of the gas makers.

At one point I did not dare leave the house in the morning without going to the loo twice, preferably three times, and I had to research the availability of publicly accessible loos everywhere I went! Not yet searchable items on Google Maps so far as I know . . .

[Harmonie]

Listening to it now, as I sip my mint tea which, over the past 3 years, seems to have stopped my bowels, and their flora, from getting irritable.

How much do you drink and what type?

I've been drinking mint tea for a month or so, and so far haven't seen much improvement. =/ I've been drinking a peppermint/spearmint combo tea.

I drink Twining's pure mint, almost exclusively, I only drink ordinary tea or coffee when out. Oh, excluding my evening hot choc! I probably drink 6 to 8 mugs a day. I cannot remember how long it took before I was confident of its effect, it could be classed as a "herbal remedy" and such typically take months to work. I have also been free of almost every other gut problem, indigestion etc. Just wish it could cure the anti-social effects of onions and chickpeas on me - I love falafels!

And after listening to that broadcast I might just diversify my intake back to some of the gas makers.

At one point I did not dare leave the house in the morning without going to the loo twice, preferably three times, and I had to research the availability of publicly accessible loos everywhere I went! Not yet searchable items on Google Maps so far as I know . . .

Wow, 6-8 cups a day! 

My main beverage of choice is unsweetened sparkling water. For my tea I've pretty much only been making room for one cup in the evenings close to when I go to bed. There was a time where I was drinking two a day, sometime in the morning, but a busy schedule has left me with less time to drink anything altogether. Thursday and Friday I didn't have any tea at all. D: (Thursday I was almost never home, and had a very long rehearsal with no time to go back, so I didn't drink anything at all to avoid needing to use public restrooms).

It's a bit odd, but the reason I started drinking this tea was because I heard that spearmint could reduce libido and I'd rather not have any of that. However, I've certainly been having all kinds of digestion issues since about 2013, perhaps even earlier. Doctors I talked to told me to stop drinking so much pop, and that's one reason I ended up switching to water/sparkling water. However, things have not gotten much better in the two years since I've made that switch.

I'm really sick and tired of having these issues. I probably just need to suck it up and actually specifically go to a doctor for this, instead of just mentioning it in passing. But I don't want to go to a doctor about that!  If increasing how much tea I drink would help that I'm certainly all for it! Although, again, I just have such a narrow schedule to really fit it in.

[Essie Mae]

Listening to it now, as I sip my mint tea which, over the past 3 years, seems to have stopped my bowels, and their flora, from getting irritable.

How much do you drink and what type?

I've been drinking mint tea for a month or so, and so far haven't seen much improvement. =/ I've been drinking a peppermint/spearmint combo tea.

I drink Twining's pure mint, almost exclusively, I only drink ordinary tea or coffee when out. Oh, excluding my evening hot choc! I probably drink 6 to 8 mugs a day. I cannot remember how long it took before I was confident of its effect, it could be classed as a "herbal remedy" and such typically take months to work. I have also been free of almost every other gut problem, indigestion etc. Just wish it could cure the anti-social effects of onions and chickpeas on me - I love falafels!

And after listening to that broadcast I might just diversify my intake back to some of the gas makers.

At one point I did not dare leave the house in the morning without going to the loo twice, preferably three times, and I had to research the availability of publicly accessible loos everywhere I went! Not yet searchable items on Google Maps so far as I know . . .

Wow, 6-8 cups a day! 

My main beverage of choice is unsweetened sparkling water. For my tea I've pretty much only been making room for one cup in the evenings close to when I go to bed. There was a time where I was drinking two a day, sometime in the morning, but a busy schedule has left me with less time to drink anything altogether. Thursday and Friday I didn't have any tea at all. D: (Thursday I was almost never home, and had a very long rehearsal with no time to go back, so I didn't drink anything at all to avoid needing to use public restrooms).

It's a bit odd, but the reason I started drinking this tea was because I heard that spearmint could reduce libido and I'd rather not have any of that. However, I've certainly been having all kinds of digestion issues since about 2013, perhaps even earlier. Doctors I talked to told me to stop drinking so much pop, and that's one reason I ended up switching to water/sparkling water. However, things have not gotten much better in the two years since I've made that switch.

I'm really sick and tired of having these issues. I probably just need to suck it up and actually specifically go to a doctor for this, instead of just mentioning it in passing. But I don't want to go to a doctor about that!  If increasing how much tea I drink would help that I'm certainly all for it! Although, again, I just have such a narrow schedule to really fit it in.

Sorry to hear all that Harmonie. That sparkling water worries me though; I heard that carbonated drinks leach the calcium from the bones, possibly contributing to osteoporosis. Might be worth a few momemts' research. Also, don't be put off visiting doctor about 'that'. They're not embarrassed and they might have further help or suggestions. All the best.

[Harmonie]

^I'm sure there are negative effects of sparkling water, but my mom has also warned me of drinking too much of the mint tea because it might hurt my kidneys, I've seen that said elsewhere as well. So no matter what I drink, I'm hurting myself, right? I'm just happy I came out of the more harmful pop addiction I had for pretty much my entire life up to a couple of years ago.

I have so much I need to go to the doctor for. D: But this one is just so embarrassing to talk about. It took me everything to get me to talk about it with the people I did. But we've really gone off-topic here.

[Essie Mae]

^I'm sure there are negative effects of sparkling water, but my mom has also warned me of drinking too much of the mint tea because it might hurt my kidneys, I've seen that said elsewhere as well. So no matter what I drink, I'm hurting myself, right? I'm just happy I came out of the more harmful pop addiction I had for pretty much my entire life up to a couple of years ago.

I have so much I need to go to the doctor for. D: But this one is just so embarrassing to talk about. It took me everything to get me to talk about it with the people I did. But we've really gone off-topic here.

Yeah, sorry about that; partly down to me. Going back on topic; we're always being told about the number of microbes on door handles, keyboards, mobile phones and menus etc, but surely if we were that defenceless, we'd all be ill all the time. I wash my hands more to avoid cold germs than anything else. Also, I not only a void touching the door handle with bare skin, I also avoid touching the tap; I use a tissue to turn it off.

[Icarus]

 History 101: Waaaay back in the day when I worked as a design engineer, my extensive drawings were done with a pencil on vellum paper.  Vellum is a type of paper that is durable, accepts pencil lead readily and works well in the Ozalid machine that makes blueprints. Aaaah yes....them wuz the days.  CAD drawing was not even a daydream then. Computers did not exist, so, cad drawing could not be.  It was pencil and paper.  Because pencils make graphite dust, your hands would become smeared with it. Therefore you were obliged to wash hands very frequently to avoid smearing your beautiful drawings. I can immodestly state that I was a prize winning draftsman and I damned sure did not let my drawings become smeared with graphite powder.  Lots of hand washing was the resultant requirement.

The hand washing thing became an ingrained habit. It never left me and I still wash my hands many times a day whether they need it or not.  I reckon I am a kook about this particular exercise in hygiene.  Not really a kook just a creature of habit................I am also a kook about washing my hands after I order my meal from the restaurant.

Whether that habit, or compulsion, contributed to my longevity is a matter for considered inquiry.  For sure I have been one of the premier customers for soap makers.  ....and yes indeed I do not let the water run in the wash basis while I lather my hands. Call me a tree hugger or at least a water conservationist.

[Dark Lightning]

Do you have a special place for storing your "scum bag"?  Nothing like inking in a drawing after you're through with the pencil(s). I still have a table that I can make an "E" size sheet drawing on (though my wife uses it to do quilting on, now), T-square, a bucket of French curves, architect's scale, etc. I even have some old log-log and semi-log graph paper from those days. I'm 65 and retired, now. Most of my work in the last 15 years was electronic drawings. Nothing like making an orthographic drawing and being able to import it into CNC machine code. Minor adjustments, and turn the machine loose! Costs went WAY down, which was important, because I made specialty tools that were in the production run size of 12, in some cases.

Oh, yeah, on the filthy fingers of the OP, nice to know that!

[Icarus]

I had a special little shelf, within easy reach, under my drawing board. The scum bag lived there.

I am one of the ancients. I still have a nice drawing board in my garage that has a "drafting machine" mounted the old fashioned way. I have triangles,  various templates, french curves, and a log log decitrig, K&E slide rule. I still have my electric eraser that works as well as ever., and also a whole lot of architect and engineers scales and a n intact set of K&E ink instruments.  I never use the slide rule but I still have respect for it. My Casio or TI calculator is a better deal. I do still use the drawing board and the other tools to dash off a transient mindfart drawing.  I have a perfectly good Turbo Cad, and also a Mathcad program on the garage computer, but alas old fools like me still cling to the old fashioned ways.  One of the cherished books on the shelf is Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers paired with the Machinery Handbook.

I draw boats often. I have some skill with boat design and I stubbornly use the pencil, pad, and calculator to do the essential math.  It would be faster and easier to do it with a spread sheet or with the Mathcad program. I do the calculations the hard way as a calisthenic exercise for my aged brain. It is fun actually.